Nick Clark Takes on the World's Best

The much-respected runner is a top contender at this weekend's UTMB

A year ago I followed Nick Clark through the Squaw Valley ski lodge before the Western States 100. As we shouldered through the crowd, one runner whispered and pointed towards the ponytailed Brit, “That’s the guy that won Bandera.” A hushed, “Yeah, and he’s a really nice guy,” came another’s reply. Nick didn’t hear their kind words, and many in the lodge didn’t know the budding ultra star at the time. Sixteen hours later he finished the Western States 100 in fourth place, a breakout performance on an international stage.

After another year on the ultra circuit filled with course records and consistent podium finishes, Clark’s personality as one of the sport’s good guys, and there are many, has become as well-known as his hard-nosed racing. Heading into this weekend’s Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, a race that starts in France and circumnavigates its namesake peak, Clark is expected to again contend for a podium finish and further his claim to the “Ultrarunner of the Year” title.

Success didn’t come easily for the Fort Collins, Colo., resident. It took his wife, Dana, to reveal a dark family secret. Nick Clark DNFd in his first attempt at the 100-mile distance. With some coaxing, Clark begrudgingly shares that he’d been injured for seven straight months when he toed the line at the 2007 Leadville 100. Having registered prior to the injury, he says he “just wanted to check it out.” Twenty-five miles was his limit on that day. His good friend Andy Jones-Wilkins, himself known as an anti-DNF proponent, shrugs it off and says, “They don’t get much tougher than this guy.”

At this point in his career, no one holds that DNF against him. Clark went into June’s Western States 100 having just claimed the Jemez 50 course record in New Mexico, a stiff mark once owned by Kyle Skaggs. At Western, he improved upon his 2010 finish by moving up to third, against a more competitive field that again included the world’s best. He finished 15 minutes faster than a year earlier despite getting off course early in the race. Thirteen days later he raced the Hardrock 100 in Silverton, Colo. He barely ran for the period in between — his training log shows just 26 miles for those 12 days. Capping an incredible double, he finished third at Hardrock too, also against the race’s deepest field in years. Clark loved it, describing it as “the quintessential mountain 100-miler, with beauty and brutality dished out in equal measure.”

He’s now well-known on the ultra circuit. Readers of his blog seek him out at the starting line of races, others cheer him on throughout. His popularity isn’t just because of his success. Jones-Wilkins says that the first thing you notice about Clark is his great personality. “He’s incredibly humble, goes to school on the sport, and is one of the most-likeable guys out there. He respects everybody from the elites to the back-of-the-pack runners. That’s Nick Clark,” Jones-Wilkins says strongly, as if almost defying anyone to contradict him.

Within his adopted hometown of Fort Collins, Clark is incredibly active in the running community. Tuesday evenings he joins a group for speed work, helping to push the pace at the front. He directs the local running club’s seven-race Tortoise & Hare series, personally setting up each course and working the timing for the handicapped start. Asked why he’s so eager to volunteer, he matter-of-factly says, “It’s just about giving back, simple as that,” to the sport and community that has treated him so well. Thursday nights he’s a regular at a time trial up one of the area’s steepest hills, again tracking each finisher’s results. The sport may treat Clark well, but when his competitive drive ends, and at age 37 he knows it eventually will, Clark will walk away having left his mark in Fort Collins and the U.S.

Apart from running, he and Dana are parents of two. When I joined him for a run on the trails right outside his door, we went incredibly early so that he could be home for son Alistair’s 5th birthday party. Alistair is incredibly proud of his dad and, even on his birthday, can be talked into dusting the various belt buckles and trophies collected over the past few years. Also with a daughter, 8-month-old Stella, the couple is busy and Clark is careful to shield his running from being an obstruction. He works full-time and wraps his training around early mornings and regular lunch or evening doubles. Constantly looking for a window to run, he totaled 510 miles and 92,000 feet of elevation gain for the month of May, his peak training for the year’s three 100-milers. He attributes his improvement to this consistency, with 2011 representing another year of cumulative mileage gains, his biggest yet.

Clark’s current adventures have him running on trails, but years earlier his passion was travel. He and Dana met in 1994 while studying abroad in southern France. They backpacked through India, Pakistan, the Philippines, and several other Southeast Asian countries, and lived together in rural western China for two years while teaching English — she American English and he, still with a strong accent, British English.

His success has made him the face of Pearl Izumi’s trail running line. Pictures of his Wasatch 100-winning shoes have been used in ads, while another print ad calls him a “research monkey.” Geoff Shaffer, global marketing director for Pearl Izumi, says it’s true. “It’s not unusual to see Nick in the office working with the product team on just about anything we do. We sponsor athletes for a lot of reasons and product innovation is probably the most important one,” Shaffer says of the mutually beneficial sponsorship. At home, at least 20 pairs of PI shoes sit at Clark’s door. Of their star trail runner, Shaffer says, “I don’t think anyone’s determination, athleticism and grit embody ‘Run Like an Animal’ better than Nick.”

Having already raced seven ultras this year, most of which were high-profile events, many followers of the sport expect Clark to be in the running for this year’s “Ultrarunner of the Year” title. And for being so well-liked, many hope that he wins it. Saturday in Chamonix, France, he’ll join Kilian Jornet, Geoff Roes, Scott Jurek, Jez Bragg, Miguel Heras and many other of the world’s best ultrarunners for the 103-mile Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc. Clark admits to feeling fatigued from the year’s heavy race volume thus far. At UTMB though, he’ll again look to “Run Like an Animal” and of course will make new friends and fans along the way.